Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 30/2006. (81–92) Ana Munk: The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice ...
Ana Munk
University of Saint Thomas, Houston
The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice: Corpi sancti
as a Pictorial Motif and Artistic Motivation
Original scientific paper / Izvorni znanstveni rad
Submitted 15. 7. 2006. – Accepted 6. 10. 2006.
UDK 7.046.3:235(450 Venecija)”13”
Summary
This text focuses on scenes showing pilgrims venerating the tomb of
a saint in Venetian mid- and late-Trecento paintings which can be
securely related to specific relic sites in Venice. The Pala feriale, the
Saint Lucy altarpiece, the altarpiece fragment with stories from the
life of the Blessed Giuliana Collalto, and the painted panel from the
tomb of Leone Bembo are examples of paintings by Paolo Veneziano
and like-minded artists from his circle who reconceived pictorial
hagiographies to include interactions of pilgrims with corpi sancti.
Although only Pala feriale can be securely dated to the mid-Trecento
and Andrea Dandolo’s dogeship, Dandolo’s keen interest in relic
orchestration has contributed to a stronger pictorial formulation of
»the bodies of saints which are whole and uncorrupted« (as an early
Trecento pilgrim put it).
Key words: relics, cult of saint, Paolo Veneziano, pilgrims, Pala feriale, tomb, Trecento, 14th century, San Marco, Venice
The
Eye of the Pilgrim
After the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the most alluring
and rewarding location where one could experience its treasures of relics was Venice. According to Rodolfo Galo, by
1700 there were forty-nine sacred bodies in Venice,1 of which
many were acquired after the conquest of Constantinople. The
systematic, centuries-long, state-sponsored accumulation of
relics required careful distribution, organization, and artistic
orchestration in order to better promote the presence of a
particular body. One benefit reaped from such endeavors was
the steady influx of revenue generated by holy pilgrimages
to Venice; to support pilgrim-tourists seeking relics, Venice
developed a service industry which by 1380 had monopolized pilgrim transportation to Levant.2 Pilgrims such as the
Irish friar Simon Fitz-Simon who travelled to the Holy Land
in 1323 recorded their experience in journals and marveled
about sacred Venetian treasures: »the bodies of saints, which
are whole and uncorrupted«.3
As pilgrims’ accounts suggest, the main site of interest was
not only the church of San Marco but parochial churches such
as San Salvatore and San Cassiano as well as monastery churches such as San Biagio (destroyed), San Daniele (destroyed
in 1839), and Sant’Elena.4 Felix Fabri, a pilgrim from Ulm,
managed to visit thirty-four churches in Venice.5 Before re-
lic-hunting pilgrimages turned into aesthetic pilgrimages in
the 17th century, even well-educated pilgrims such as Santo
Brasca (a chancellor at Francesco Sforza’s court in Milan)
admired the mosaics in San Marco, but his experience of the
church interior revolved mainly around a performing object,
a bleeding cross he saw in the middle of the church.6 On the
night of the Ascension, the blood that supposedly issued from
that cross was shown making everybody run to San Marco
with a candle in hand.
Late fifteenth century pilgrims’ travelogues are replete with
notes on loving, personal, and somatic interactions with sacred
corpses. For instance, Felix Fabri explained that when pilgrims
saw a relic they were supposed to kiss and touch it with their
jewelry, hoping they would »perchance derive some sanctity
from the touch«. Fabri carried a great number of gold and
silver rings, beads for rosaries, or rosaries entrusted to him by
his friends and relatives back home for which he would be duly
compensated once they were sanctified and returned to their
owners. Even the Mayor of Ulm, he said, would have considered a sanctified ring double its original value. Other ways
of transferring the sanctity and healing powers from the relic
to the living included drinking water sanctified with the relic.
Fabri described the health benefits of this practice at length in
an account of the relics of Saint Peter Martyr in which pilgrims
touched, kissed, and drank the »life-giving« water.7
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1. Pao­lo Ve­ne­zia­no, The Al­tar­pie­ce of Sai­nt Lu­cy, Bis­hop’s chan­­cel­le­ry, Krk, 1350 (foto: Ž. Bačić)
Pao­lo Ve­ne­zia­no, Po­lip­tih sv. Lu­ci­je, Bis­kup­ski or­di­na­ri­jat, Krk, 1350.
Holy Incorruptibles, or the name the Catholic church gave to
the bodies of saints untouched by the passage of time, were
undoubtedly the most engaging. A French pilgrim, for instance, admired the body of Saint Helena8 which lay in a chapel
altar in a church on the Island of Saint Helen, covered except
for the upper part and feet. The preserved body wrapped in
clothes and wearing a silver mask can still be seen in the same
location. His companion, Felix Fabri further tells us that after
the mass, the monks opened her tomb.9 What they saw was
a body staged for viewing; on Helena’s breasts was another
relic, a spinal bone from Mary Magdalene, a foot-long pectoral, and wood of the true cross which Helena supposedly
always carried with her.
Another, typical description is found in Pierre Barbatre’s
1480 account of the body of Saint Barbara. According to the
account, he saw the body in a sepulcher (»Sepulcher comme
une arche«) which a pilgrim had inspected with the interest
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of a modern forensic; her right eye was more sunken than
the other. The body was covered with a cloth but the feet
remained visible. When he climbed six or seven stairs he
could see more, including her neck and shoulders.10 Pierre
Barbatre also described the sight of the Hundred Innocents,
on Murano. There he saw the bodies, some of which were still
intact with bones and skin, arranged one on top of the other.
The bodies were big and small, and heads, arms, hands, legs,
and teeth were in an »unaccountable« quantity.11 While fully
accessible to the pilgrims, these same bones were protected
by the Venetian state.12
Bodies and body relics were jealously guarded as »living limbs
of Christ«13 but were also readily shown to pilgrims. By the
end of the sixteenth century, the artistic means used to enhance
the content of holy shrines so as to make them available to
pious veneration was codified. Thus, according to instructions
dating to 1592,14 where whole bodies were found they were to
Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 30/2006. (81–92) Ana Munk: The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice ...
2. The In­cor­rup­tib­le Bo­dy of Sai­nt Lu­cy, San Ge­re­mia, Ve­ni­ce
Ti­je­lo sv. Lu­ci­je, San Ge­re­mia, Ve­ne­ci­ja
be preserved in marble or stone tombs (arca) where one could
easily see them or placed in an ornate chapel. It was further
specified that a cloth with an inscription should be used to
signal the presence of the relics and that they should never be
shown without light and incense.15
Such information for the Trecento is, however, lacking. Even
so, as sporadic but significant evidence suggests, pictorial
art was made to enhance the audience experience of relics
in the Trecento. These were primarily the images which
bear evidence of a synergistic relation to holy tombs, either
as painted decorations or pictorial advertisements signaling
the corporal presence of the saint. This discussion will first
establish the broader context for such images and then focus
on particular examples: the altarpiece of Saint Lucy (Fig. 1),
the painted cover for the sarcophagus of the Blessed Leone
Bembo (Figs. 3 and 4), the altarpiece fragment depicting the
vita of Blessed Giuliana Collalto (Fig. 5), and the pala feriale
(painted shutters) which was a weekday altarpiece for the high
altar of San Marco (Fig. 7). The fact that all these examples
were either attributed to Paolo Veneziano, his collaborators,
or to painters from Veneziano’s immediate circle is significant
and testifies to the common concerns of like-minded artists
in the age of the hagiographical boom that was the Venetian
Trecento.16
For the Benefit of the Pilgrim
There is no essential (doctrinal) difference between a fragmented body in a reliquary and the whole body of a saint in his
or her shrine. The difference is primarily an art historical one
since the strategies employed to visually articulate the corporeality of holiness differed historically and geographically. The
ambiguous reference to relics in the language of ecumenical
councils does not explain if a relic refers to a fragment, to the
whole body, or to some proportion in between. The ostentations of nude relics had a special place in demonstrating the
bodily presence of the saint, which were frequent since church
councils had banned such ostentations.17 The frequent use of
glass reliquaries since the 14th century makes it clear that the
intent of such prohibitions was not to deprive the audience
from seeing relics or to overly control their access, but rather,
to limit the possibility of fraud, theft, and the dispersion of
relics. Although the Lateran Council prohibited the practice of
nude relic exhibition in 1215, a council in Budapest in 1279
introduced a counter-restriction, practically annulling the
Lateran’s prohibition for »the benefit of the pilgrims«.
The benefit to pilgrims seems to be a crucial motivation in the
figuration and display of holy bodies. The public clamored for
access to the bodies, and to allow it was not contrary to the
interests of the guardians of the shrines; posthumous miracles
that occurred at various tombs were a way of establishing
the efficiency of the relics, and, ultimately the sanctity of
the corpse for recently deceased candidates to sainthood.
Posthumous miracles provided a basis for canonization since
such miracles were one of the sine qua non requirements for
official sanctification.
Turning our attention to Trecento Venice we can see changes
occurring in the pictorial hagiographies of various saints. For
instance, one would be hard pressed to find a parallel in the
earlier medieval illustrated Lives of Saints to the last scene
in a pictorial narrative of the life of St. Ursula painted by a
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authenticate, and for various reasons, call attention to the
holy cadaver.
The last scene on the Saint Lucy Polyptych by Paolo Veneziano19 (variously dated from 1330–1350) is such an example
(Fig. 1). It shows how the final episodes of her life are reformulated so as to better serve the cult of Lucy’s incorruptible
body (Fig. 2). The pictorial precedents for Lucy’s hagiography
in Venice or Veneto are lacking, and thus the visualization of
the crucial, final scene, is, I believe, fully informed by Venetian
cultural (not pictorial) practices.
The story of Lucy’s life starts with the saint kneeling at the
shrine of Saint Agatha and praying for the cure of her mother,
a motif previously found in the illustrated Lives of Saint Lucy
which was produced earlier outside of Venice.20 Veneziano’s
fictional narrative unravels in seven subsequent scenes that
testify to Lucy’s charitable and prophetic deeds as well as to
her martyrdom. The depiction ends in the actualization of
the narrative in a scene showing believers gathered around
Lucy’s open tomb. The corpse is visible, one woman is leaning close toward Lucy’s face, and another on the opposite
side is climbing up the column that supports the shrine. For
an audience accustomed to interacting with holy shrines, the
last scene establishes a palpable and curative presence of the
saint in their midst.
3. Pao­lo Ve­ne­zia­no, Co­ver for the To­mb of Bles­sed Leon Bem­bo,
Trea­su­ry of the Pa­ri­sh Chur­ch of Sai­nt Blai­se, Vod­njan (Is­tria), ori­
gi­nal­ly in San Se­bas­tia­no, Ve­ni­ce, 1350
Pao­lo Ve­ne­zia­no, Pok­rov gro­ba bla­že­no­ga Leo­na Bem­ba, Zbir­ka
sak­ral­ne um­jet­nos­ti Žup­ne cr­kve sve­to­ga Bla­ža, Vod­njan, po­ri­jek­lo:
San Se­bas­tia­no, Ve­ne­ci­ja, 1350.
4. Dis­co­ve­ry of the In­cor­rup­tib­le Bo­dy of Leon Bem­bo, Co­ver for
the To­mb of Bles­sed Leon Bem­bo, de­tail of Fig. 3
Ot­kri­će ne­ras­pad­nu­tog ti­je­la Leo­na Bem­ba, de­talj pok­ro­va gro­ba
Leo­na Bem­ba, de­talj sl. 3
Veneto master, ca. 1350.18 Sixteen scenes describing the legend
of Saint Ursula and her maidens culminate in one final scene
that is devoted to a pile of decapitated heads that are about to
be lowered into a shrine. This and similar pictorial motifs in
Venetian Trecento art show the influence of what was only
fully expressed in the above-mentioned 15th century pilgrims’
accounts: a keen interest in the condition and whereabouts of
holy bodies.
The Saint Lucy Altarpiece
One innovative hagiograhical motif found in the images
analyzed in continuation is the visibility of the holy corpse to
which the pictorial hagiography refers. In these altarpieces and
painted tomb covers, a cluster of scenes which were typically
found in the medieval illustrated Lives of Saints (starting with
the death of the saint and continuing on through post-mortem
discoveries, translations, and miracles) was often condensed
into one, final scene whose aim was to articulate, advertise,
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The painting originally stood in the Abbey Church of Saint
Lucy (in Jurandvor, on the island of Krk /Ital. Veglia/) and
now stands in the bishop’s chancellery in the town of Krk.
How it arrived there as well as whether it was originally
commissioned for her church in Jurandvor is uncertain.21 In
all likelihood it was commissioned for that church because
the depicted saints – Quirinus, John the Baptist, Andrew, and
Gaudentius – were all protector saints of different dioceses and
parishes on Krk. Local significance notwithstanding, the last
scene on the tomb documents the cult of Saint Lucy in Venice,
undoubtedly one of the most popular and long-standing cults
among the holy incorruptibles in Venice.
Unfortunately, little can be said about her original shrine in
Venice since the church and convent of Saint Lucy were demolished in 1860.22 Lucy’s body was there in 1395 and 1480,
and, to the pilgrim’s eye must have appeared very young, with
a beautiful face, and pleasant to behold.23 A separate account
clarified that the body conveyed Lucy’s state of grace.24 While
nobody was permitted to enter the chapel where the body
rested (the nun possessed the only key), the visiting pilgrim
was afforded ample time to view it through an iron trellis.25
This description dates to 1480 and therefore does not convey
the impact on Veneziano’s audience of c. 1350. Nonetheless,
the motif of the open tomb is new and suggests the desirability,
accessibility, and the impact Lucy’s body had on pilgrims
whether domestic, foreign, or from territories under Venetian
cultural influence.
At one point the body in Venice also became visualized as a
reliquary of sorts; Lucy’s body was reported to have been protected with a silver mask since her face had »deteriorated into
something out of a horror film«26 (according to one modern
observer). The silver mask is very recent, but the possibility of
an earlier cosmetic facial covering should not be discounted.27
In such a multi-media installation which serves the dual purpo-
Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 30/2006. (81–92) Ana Munk: The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice ...
5. Cir­cle of Pao­lo Ve­ne­zia­no (Maes­tro Do­na­to?), Frag­me­nt of a Po­lyptych Showi­ng Four Sce­nes from the Li­fe of Bea­ta Gu­lia­na di Col­lal­to,
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, the se­co­nd ha­lf of the 14th cen­tu­ry
Krug Pao­la Ve­ne­zia­na (Maes­tro Do­na­to?), Dio po­lip­ti­ha s če­ti­ri pri­zo­ra iz ži­vo­ta bla­že­ne Giu­lia­ne di Col­lal­to, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, dru­ga po­lo­vi­ca 14. sto­lje­ća
se of protecting the body as well as ensuring its presentability,
the tomb, corporeal adornments, reliquaries, and the body
itself converge into a thematic unity communicating the tactile
sense of the sacred body. The conscious drawing together of
these elements manages to flesh out the bones, which was a
key point of interest to medieval audiences.
Painted tombs: Blessed Giuliana di Collalto and
Leone Bembo
Another Venetian artist from Veneziano’s circle ended the
pictorial biography of Blessed Giuliana di Collalto (d. 1262)
with a scene showing nuns adoring her body in an open sarcophagus, fully visible, and under an open metal grill which
served as a transparent cover for the tomb (Fig. 5).28 Among
the nuns is a laywoman who is lifting her baby so it can reach
the body in the tomb. The same motif seems to have been
depicted on Veneziano’s pala feriale showing the pilgrims
at the tomb of Saint Marc. Judging by recent accounts this
was also a pious Venetian practice persisting well into the
twentieth century.29
The altarpiece testifies to the continuation of Giuliana’s cult
into the Trecento by means of pictorial hagiography which
unifies both the narrative of her life and her (uncorrupted)
bodily presence a century after her death. Previously, Giuliana
reposed in an impressive, viewer-friendly tomb which lacked
evidence of the broader significance of her cult that her pictorial biography had provided (Fig. 6). The lid of the casket
could be easily opened so that the corpse could be viewed.30
It must have held a place of honor and been accessible from
all sides since the casket is painted on the back as well. The
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6. The To­mb of Bea­ta Giu­lia­na Col­lal­to, Mu­seo Cor­rer, Ve­ni­ce, c. 1290
Grob bla­že­ne Giu­lia­ne di Col­lal­to, Mu­seo Cor­rer, Ve­ne­ci­ja, oko 1290.
lid was also painted on the interior and probably served as a
sort of altarpiece when her body was shown.31 Also depiced
are the titulars of her monastery and Beata Guiliana in her
Benedictine habit.
A further example of the role of pictorial hagiography in
determining the significance and whereabouts of the »new
saint« is the cover for the marble sarcophagus of Blessed Leon
Bembo, a late eleventh century Venetian noble and bishop who
had chosen a life of monastic austerity in San Lorenzo. It is,
according to Paolino Fiamma, a 1321 work which probably
refers to the date of discovery of the body and not to the date
of the painting. Fiamma also notes that it was painted »alla
greca« and commissioned by the nun Tommasina Vitturi
to record Bembo’s miracles and the discovery of his body
(Figs. 3 and 4). Fiamma refers to it both as paliotto and as the
cover of Bembo’s sarcophagus.32 Furthermore signifying the
continuation and persistence of the cult is an extant painting,
identical to this one in composition and chosen themes, but
made later by Lazzaro Bastiani. The painting originally hung
in the church of San Sebastiano in Venice. Bembo’s body,
the cover, and other incorruptible bodies from S. Sebastiano
and S. Lorenzo were moved to Vodnjan (Ital. Dignano, Istria)
where they are currently exhibited.33
That Bembo’s incorruptible body is present in his sarcophagus
is spelled out three times. First, by the inclusion of two angels
holding incense holders in the central panel, indicating that
a funerary rite is perpetually performed over his body. It is
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a very common motif in sepulchral monuments but not one
that would have been encountered on an altarpiece. Secondly,
attention is drawn to the corpse by showing Bembo’s death
on the right-hand scene and, finally, in the scene showing
laymen gathered around his tomb in the left-hand scene (Fig.
4). According to the inscription, the last scene depicts a 1207
event when a group of faithful opened the sarcophagus situated
in the presbytery and discovered that, despite the passing of a
hundred years, his body had remained intact.34 The rest of the
scenes on the bottom left and right-hand side show miracles
that occurred as a result of Bembo’s advocacy: he helped a
blind girl by name of Gabriella de Ronconelli regain her sight
(left) and resuscitated a baby girl (right).
What is of interest here is the documentary aspect (Pallucchini
says »popular«)35 of this pictorial account that is so often
missing from similarly conceived pictorial hagiographies on
altarpieces. The Lives of Saints typically center on the exemplary nature of a saint’s life at the expense of direct references
to people and places. This, however, is not a narrative that
envisions Bembo’s place in the grand tradition of Venetian
state-sponsored pictorial hagiographies in San Marco. The
inventio of Bembo’s body is depicted as a real-time event with
no salvific, political, or otherwise didactic overtones. On the
entire cover the institutional presence is registered only in the
figure of the bishop present at Bembo’s death. Miracle scenes
have a beneficiary’s name clearly spelled out, registering the
hagiography in the making and not a previous hagiographical
Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 30/2006. (81–92) model. The audience depicted is not from the year 1207 but
rather, Venetians from 1321 who frequented his tomb and
reconnected with their saint through his miracle-making
remains, which is the pivotal element of this narrative. The
scene focuses on laymen’s immediate reactions to the body
of the blessed: one lifts his arms in amazement, one leans to
look closely (left group), one points to his intact body and
comments to his friend while the other leans casually on the
rim of the sarcophagus (right group).
In late fifteenth century Venice would-be sacred-bodies were
publicly mummified, causing no apparent surprise 36 and
indicating that important changes had taken place regarding
both the production and representation of sainthood. In the
depictions such as those dedicated to Leone Bembo or Blessed
Guiliana di Collalto, the fourteenth century’s acute awareness
of the corporeality of the sacred body becomes apparent, giving a different meaning to the »humanization of the supernatural« observed on a stylistic level37 in Veneziano’s paintings.
Here, the humanistic content is evident in artists’ willingness
to assume the standpoint of the lay audience focused on the
corporeality of the saint.
In all previous examples the artist maintains very little representational distance from the corpse; the documentary aspect
is strong and unambiguous. Babies reach for the body, people
point and lean forward to see more closely, each expressing
their curiosity. The probing of the tomb is where all of the
narrative’s formulaic content falls apart, defying in the process
»the proper way of seeing«38 and, with it, anything other than
communal possession and control of the body.
In the earlier (written and monastic) hagiographical tradition
there was a concept analogous to the »humanization of the
supernatural« noted in these images. The sacred corpses were
known to have been publicly humiliated in a public expression
of dissatisfaction with their performances. In the Dialogues
on Miracles, Ceasarius of Heisterbach reports that saints often
complained that pilgrims spit, vomited, scraped mud off their
clogs, and otherwise behaved irreverently at their shrines.
Although such uninhibited familiarity was never depicted
in medieval manuscript illumination, what is analogous to
our gatherings around the tomb is how emotional reactions
were depicted as subjective. Emotional response ranged from
admiration – the type of response Gregory the Great, in his
Dialogues, considered an invaluable didactic tool,39 to the
simplest (non-committal) form of subjective engagement:
curiosity. The eye of Paolo Veneziano (and like-minded artists) was on the audience, documenting ways of seeing, but
not prescribing them.
Saint Mark’s Holy Tomb, Lost and Found
Reason: The nature of things cannot be overcome by human
artfulness, and often, the greater the effort to stress or
hide this nature, the more it comes forth and shows
itself, as if angered to have been provoked. The
innate foulness of your miserable mortal carcass
cannot be changed by colors or by scents–it just will
become more evident or more strongly implied.
Ana Munk: The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice ...
Joy: I am adorned with precious jewelry.
Reason: Place a pallid corpse into a golden coffin, and
surround it with gems and purple, the greater the
adornment the greater is the horror. Lest you take
offense at what I say – consider the origin of the
word »cadaver«, which derives from the Latin
cado, to fall, to expire. (italics mine)40
The well-designed cult sites, with bodies imported and dispersed across the map of Venice, competed with Saint Mark
in terms of their presence and visibility among pilgrims who
were fully aware that there was no »pallid corpse in a golden
coffin« in San Marco (to use Petrarch’s tongue-in-cheek term).
Not surprisingly then, the issue of Saint Mark’s whereabouts
was reopened in the mid-Trecento during the office of Doge
Andrea Dandolo. In 1345, Paolo Veneziano and his sons Giovanni and Luca were commissioned by Andrea Dandolo to
paint the shutters known as Pala feriale for the famous Pala
d’Oro (Fig. 7), thus renewing »the saint’s presence amongst
his community.«41
The body of Saint Mark was last seen at the beginning of the
twelfth century when it was dressed in ecclesiastical costume
and exposed to the veneration of the people for five months.42
After that he was present only pictorially through a series of
mosaics. In these mosaics it was established that his body had
arrived, had been received, and did in fact enter the church;
according to the Deposition mosaic on the church façade above
the door of St. Alypius, the body crossed the threshold of San
Marco. The body of Saint Mark within San Marco appeared
to audiences only through his reliquary pier as indicated by
the Apparitio mosaic (south transept, west wall, 1260–1265).
Paolo Veneziano’s shutters, however, may be the only scene
among sixty-one43 representations of Saint Mark where the
audience’s devotion to the saint in his problematic tomb within
San Marco was recorded; every instance and effect of Saint
Mark’s life, death, and his translation from Alexandria was
documented in previous mosaics except the actual location of
the body itself. The pictorial advertisements for the relic were
insistent and effective but also dispersed in space; the body of
Saint Mark was simultaneously omnipresent and elusive.
In the lower register of Pala feriale (which narrates the life
of Saint Mark), the center scene shows Marks’ martyrdom
directly below the iconic representation of Christ as homo
patiens, establishing a parallel between the crucified body of
Chirst and Mark’s martyred body – now an iconic focus and
center of particular devotion. From that point on the narrative
logically explains the posthumous powers contained in the
body: Marc’s body is seen charged and effective during his
translation to Venice. Next, it reveals itself in the Apparitio
scene, depicted for the first time since the 13th century mosaic. Significantly, the apparitio (the self-revelation of Saint
Mark during the 11th century consecration of Saint Mark’s
church) was for the first time written up during the dogeship
of Andrea Dandolo.44
Veneziano’s version of apparitio, however, notably differs
from a previous depiction in the thirteenth century mosaic.
In the previous version the reliquary pier was miraculously
opened by »the sheer power of a hidden force« (i.e. the body
of Saint Mark) in a type of miracle that reminded everybody
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7. Pao­lo Ve­ne­zia­no and his so­ns Gio­van­ni and Lu­ca, Pa­la Fe­ria­le, Mu­seo Mar­cia­no, Ve­ni­ce, 1345
Pao­lo Ve­ne­zia­no i si­no­vi Gio­van­ni i Lu­ca, Pa­la fe­ria­le, Mu­zej Mar­cia­no, Ve­ne­ci­ja, 1345.
of Christ’s resurrection.45 The miracle disclosed the location of
the body but did not reveal the body itself. The empty pier also
testified to the fact that, as a contemporary panegyric admitted,
the body had been »partially« reduced to dust. Nevertheless,
Mark’s body in such a reduced state was considered a potent
vehicle of the Holy Spirit and a force that shattered »the hardness of the heart«.46 Veneziano’s version, on the other hand,
claimed that the pier contained a well-formed body, lending
credence to the presence of the body in a closed sarcophagus
in the final scene.
Finally, the last of the eight scenes shows the Pilgrims at Saint
Mark’s Tomb in a scene very much like those in Giuliana di
Collalto’s altarpiece fragment, Leone Bembo’s tomb cover,
and Saint Lucy’s altarpiece, except that the tomb is closed.47
The laymen are gathered at this all-important tomb and the
subject of their prayer is inscribed on the arch above the presbytery: »Mark, protect like a lion, with your doctrine and
with your tomb, in peace and in war, Italy, Africa (and) the
Venetians (italics mine)«.48
The key statement on pala feriale is that the body was inside,
at a location near the high altar above the crypt, and to that
effect Veneziano painted a baldachin over the sarcophagus
mimicking the baldachin over the high altar. Thus, everyone
from Dandolo through Veneziano had disclosed the location
of the body that, as the doge boasted in his Chronicon, he was
the only one to know.49 The high altar of San Marco effectively
became Mark’s tomb since Saint Mark’s tomb as depicted
in the scene, elevated and supported by columns did not, in
fact, exist.50 That not even the crypt was equipped for viewing
testifies to Fabri’s notes from 1480 stating that he was unable
to view the body of Saint Mark because he believed it had
been stolen by a monk who took it to Reichenau51 where yet
another cult of Saint Mark had already developed.
Significantly as well, the renewed presence of Saint Mark
among the Venetians was not envisioned in the mid-Trecento
as a state miracle, but rather, through the lens of the community
and through the presence of lay witnesses whose testimony
has been found crucial in the three examples discussed so far
88
(Saint Lucy, Guliana Collalto and Leon Bembo) and in pictorial narratives elsewhere in Italy.52 The interest of the state
and the gaze of a layman overlap in the scene of Pilgrims at
Saint Mark’s Tomb precisely at the point where the audience
is accustomed to having its attention directed toward the
tomb--at the conclusion of the hagiographical narrative. The
overlapping of motifs and the interpictorial53 component of
these works, as Cynthia Hahn would say, was meant to cue
the audience that the body of Saint Mark is as real as all other
Venetian famous corpi sancti.
For the Benefit of the State
Andrea Dandolo’s views on the matter were a crucial motivation for the increased visibility of relics, in reality and in art.
His chef d’oeuvre, the orchestration of the cult of Saint Isidore,
is a case in point. Isidore’s body was translated from Chios in
two attempts: once in 1125 and a second time in 1627 since; for
reasons unknown, the head was not brought on the first trip.54
Andrea Dandolo managed the inventio (that is, the finding) of
Isidore’s body and dedicated the chapel in 1348. At that time
Isidore’s relics were publicly shown.55 Dandolo reconfirmed
the importance of relics in state cults, particularly those of
Saint Mark and Saint Isidore. The mosaics accompanying
Isidore’s tomb assert the presence of the corpse during the
translation, while the tomb of Saint Isidore contains another
Venetian Trecento innovation, the effigy of the saint which
makes the body unequivocally present in its tomb. (A full
discussion of the development of the effigy on holy tombs in
Trecento Venice will be discussed in a separate study.)
A scholar, historian, literate, and friend of Petrarch, Andrea
Dandolo was not, his humanistic inclinations notwithstanding,
unsympathetic to the world of miracles and relics.56 On the
contrary, he deemed them nobilem materiam, that is, as subject
matter worthy of artistic ennoblement and prominent staging.
That politics and relics were two chief interconnected preoccupations of this doge is evident from Dandolo’s chronicle and
Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 30/2006. (81–92) symbolically expressed in the Baptistery of San Marco where
Dandolo’s tomb is located. There, a block of granite was found
that was believed to be a relic of the stone on which Christ
stood and preached. It was undoubtedly a key component, in
fact, the supporting evidence to the grand claim expressed
pictorially--that of the Venetian missionary and political expansion in the Orient contained in the Pentecost mosaic and
recognized as the baptistery mosaic program.57
We should thus conclude that Venice, with its incorruptible
bodies, accompanying altarpieces, painted tomb covers, nude
relics, and reliquaries presented itself to a devout tourist in yet
Ana Munk: The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice ...
another of its mythological incarnations – as a second Holy
Land and heir to its rich treasures of relics. Venice catered to
its own state myth but also to a specific audience: to pilgrims
with diverse backgrounds who were nonetheless united in the
desire to devote four years of their lives to the study of the
loca sancta and their relics. As a point of departure to the Holy
Land, in fact the only jumping-off point for such pilgrimages
in the period from 1380 to 1530’s, Venice was in a position
to situate itself as a prime destination for sacred treasures that
were visually better staged and produced in Venice than in the
Holy Land itself.58
Notes
1
RODOLFO GALLO, Reliquie e reliquiari veneziani, offprint, Rivista
di Venezia (May, 1934), 7; ANTONIO NIERO, Reliquie e corpi di
santi, in: Culto dei Santi a Venezia, ed. Silvio Tramontin, Venezia,
1965, 187. FRANCESCO SANSOVINO provides a list of circa fiftyfour corpi in: Trattato delle cose notabili che sono in Venetia quale
con ogni verità fidelmente si descrivono…tutti li corpi santi. Numero
delle parocchie. Con la origine di esso città…, Venetia, 1575.
2
ROBERT C. DAVIS, Pilgrim-Tourism in Late Medieval Venice,
in: Beyond Florence: The Contours of Medieval and Early Modern
Italy, eds. Paula Findlen, Michelle M. Fontaine, Duane J. Osheim,
Stanford, 2003, 121.
3
Ibid, 123.
4
This list does not cover all the sites, but these are specified and
their relic content carefully listed by Santo Brasca, see: Viaggio
in Terrasanta di Santo Brasca, 1480: Con l’itinerario di Gabriele
Capodilista, 1458, ed. Anna Laura Momigliano Lepschy, Milano,
1966, 50–51. At these sites he listed all the body parts he saw and
touched, and distinguished six entire bodies: that of Saint Theodore
martyr (provided for San Salvatore in 1267), Saint Helen (arrived
from Constantinople in 1211), Saint Maxim bishop (an Istrian
martyr), Santa Barbara, Saint John the Martyr, duke of Alexandria
(body transferred from Constantinople in 1216), and Saint Eustachio,
patriarch of Constantinople.
5
ROBERT C. DAVIS (n. 2), 124.
6
Viaggio in Terrasanta (n. 4), 48. Neither Felix Fabri paid much
attention to the architecture and painted images; FELIX FABRI, The
Wanderings of Felix Fabri, Vol. 7, reprint from 1887–1879 ed., New
York, 1971, 108–109. Among them, Pierre Barbatre provides the
most exhaustive description of the interior of Saint Marc; PIERRE
BARBATRE, Le voyage de Pierre Barbatre a Jérusalem en 1480:
Edition critique d’un manuscript inédit, in: Annuaire-Bulletin de la
Société de l’Histoire de France, Paris, 1974, 97–101.
7
FELIX FABRI (n. 6), 85–86.
8
Her body came to Venice in 1213, during the office of the doge Pietro
Ziani; ANDREA DANDOLO, Chronica per extensum descrita aa.
46–1280 d. C., ed. Ester Pastorello, Rerum Italicarum scriptores,
Bologna, 1938–1958, 285.
9
FELIX FABRI (n. 6), 97.
10
Barbatre does not specify in which church they saw it except to say
that it was »une eglise parrochiale«; PIERRE BARBATRE (n. 6),
103; FELIX FABRI (n. 6), 100. Andrea Dandolo says that the body
was brought to Venice at the time of Pietro II Orseolo in 1005 and
transferred from Saint Marc to the convent of Saint John the Evangelist of Torcello (in fact, on Burano island) in 1009: hoc tempore,
ad suplicacionem Felicie abbatise, corpus sancte Barbare virginis
de ecclesia sancti Marci su[m]ptum, ex conlaudacione populi, in
monasterio sancti Iohanis Evangeliste de Torcelo cum reverentia
translactum est; ANDREA DANDOLO (n. 8), 203.
11
»a une chapelle, a destre soubz une table en ung autel y sont les corps
de cent Innocents, aulcuns toulx entiers, en chair et en os, rengés
l’ung sur l’autre; on en voit de grans, de petis, les testes, bras, mains,
jambs, dens, le petit vit d’un petit, tout entire je ne les sçaroit conter«,
PIERRE BARBATRE (n. 6), 104.
12
The decrees of the State dated 1422 and 1446 forbid the deacquisition of these relics and bodies to individuals, RODOLFO GALLO
(n. 1), 5.
13
The instructions for display and preservation of the relics are contained in a manual written in 1592 by Mons. Antonio Grimani, bishop
of Torcello. Excerpts can be found in PIETRO PAZZI, Il tesoro della
chiesa di Santa Maria dei Servi di Venezia: itinerario di oreficeria veneziana attraverso la documentazione visiva di capolavori scomparsi,
in: Oro di Venezia, 5a mostra dell’oreficeria, gioielleria, argenteria:
antichi argenti veneti, Venezia, 1981, 104–105.
14
»Dove si trovino corpi intieri, siano con molta pietà conservati in
Arca di Marmoro, ò Pietra viva politamente fabbricata, & siano posti
in luogo di prospettiva, ò in qualche Capella ben ornata, non però,
dove viene custodito il santissimo Sacramento. Et affinché´detti
corpi Santi & le Sante membra siano ad ogni ingiuria conservate
incorrotte, dentro dell’Arca di pietra sia una Cassa di stagno dorata,
ovverosia l’Arca foderata di panno pretioso, & col medesimo panno
siano coperte, & sia tal panno del colore, che ricerca le Reliquie con
le loro iscrizioni.« The source distinguishes between bodies and relics
(membri, ossisacri). The latter should be in a cupboard (armario).
89
Ana Munk: The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice ...
Principal limbs (membri principali), i.e., heads and arms (capo,
braccio & altri simili) should be covered in silver. Other relics can
be in crystal vases (vasi cristallini), and all unidentified relics should
be in a crystal vase. A cleric who takes home a relic gets suspended
for a year; the theft should be punished with excommunication.
Pazzi believes that the manner of displaying relic did not change
much over the centuries. Of some interest is the mention of head
reliquaries, although Venetian treasuries do not have any in mimetic
shape before the seventeenth century, only numerous arms and legs;
PIETRO PAZZI (n. 13).
15
PIETRO PAZZI (n. 13), 105.
16
An important factor in development of the Venetian hagiography was
Legendae de sanctis, the work of the first of the Venetian hagiographers, the Dominican Pietro Calo (d. 1348); SILVIO TRAMONTIN,
Breve storia dell’agiografia Veneziana, in: Culto dei Santi, 19–21.
To the hagiographical altarpieces by Paolo Veneziano and his circle,
the fourteenth century mosaics of Saint Isidore in San Marco, we
could add the fourteenth century illustrated sacrementarium with
sixty-three miniatures illustrating Masses of Saints. Most of them
are scenes of martyrdom. For the sacremantarium see, RANEE
KATZENSTEIN, Three Liturgical Manuscripts from San Marco: Art
and Patronage in mid-Trecento Venice, Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard
University, 1987.
17
For examples and the practice of nude relic ostentations, in part or
as entire bodies in liturgy, as a frequent occurrence or on »special
occasions« such as the elevation of the relics, see NICOLE HERRMANN – MASCARD, Les reliques des saints: Formation coutumière
d’un droit, Paris, 1975, 206–216. Post-Tridentine stipulations were
even more lax. Canon 2 of the council in Bourges (1584) provides
for ostentations outside the containers according to the customs of
individual churches, »ex solemni more et ritu alicujus ecclesiae id
fiat.« Ibid., 216.
18
Illustrated in MICHELANGELO MURARO, Paolo da Venezia,
University Park, Pennsylvania, 1970, 144–145.
19
Muraro attributes it to the workshop of Paolo Veneziano; MICHELANGELO MURARO (n. 18), 56, 111. Attributed to Paolo Veneziano by: VINKO ZLAMALIK, Paolo Veneziano i njegov krug, Zagreb,
1967, 27–32; MAURO LUCCO, Pittura del Trecento a Venezia in:
La pittura in Italia: Il Duecento e il Trecento, Vol. 1., Milano, 181;
R. PALLUCCHINI, La pittura Veneziana del Trecento, Venezia,
1971, 27–28. Most recently, Igor Fisković, as well as Francesca
Flores d’Arcais consider it a work of Veneziano’s immediate circle:
Stoljeće gotike na Jadranu – Slikarstvo u ozračju Paola Veneziana:
The Gothic Century on the Adriatic – Painting in the Perspective
of Paolo Veneziano and His Followers, ed. BISERKA RAUTER
PLANČIĆ, Zagreb, 2004, 78–81; Il Trecento adriatico: Paolo
Veneziano e la pittura tra Oriente e Occidente, ed. FRANCESCA
FLORES D’ARCAIS, Milano, 2002, 24–25. None of these sources,
however, approach it from the point of view of Lucy’s iconography
or hagiography. The list of pictorial representations of Saint Lucy in
Venetian art can be found in GIOVANNI MUSOLINO, Santa Lucia
a Venezia: Storia-Culto-Arte, Venezia, 1961, 45–58. The dating of
some examples that the author mentions is, however, inaccurate.
20
For illustrated Lives of Saint Lucy, see CYNTHIA HAHN, Portrayed
on the Heart: Narrative Effect in Pictorial Lives of Saints from the
Tenth through the Thirteenth Century, Berkley, 2001, 90–128.
21
The Benedictine abbey church at Jurandvor dates to 1100, but there
is very little data that could shed some light on its activity in the
90
Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 30/2006. (81–92)
fourteenth century. The altarpiece was there in 1617. V. ŠTEFANIĆ,
Opatija sv. Lucije u Baški i drugi benediktinski samostani na Krku,
in: Croatia Sacra (11–12), 1935, 1–86.
22
ANTONIO NIERO (n. 1), 198–199; GIOVANNI MUSOLINO,
Feste religiose popolari, in Culto dei Santi a Venezia, Venezia, 1965,
229–230; SILVIO TRAMONTIN, Il ‘kalendarium veneziano’, in:
Culto dei Santi a Venezia, Venezia, 1965, 323; DAVID SOX, Relics
and Shrines, London, 1985, 117–120. The iconography of the first
of the Incorruptibles is vast and widespread, especially in Venice,
Veneto, and Syracuse where a fifth century tombstone noting the
feast day of Saint Lucy marks the beginnings of her cult. Supposedly, Constantinople acquired her body in 1039 having recaptured
Syracuse from the Arabs; it was subsequently transferred to Venice in
1204, first to San Giorgio Maggiore. Both bodies of Saint Lucy and
Saint Agatha were brought from Constantinople. Agatha’s went to
Sicily. However, a separate tradition claims that both bodies resided
in Venice as early as 1028. The eleventh century chronicle notes the
transfer to Constantinople, but no subsequent information on her
cult in Constantinople exists; GIOVANNI MUSOLINO (n.19), 67,
n. 1. Andrea Dandolo makes Constantinople provenance official;
ANDREA DANDOLO (n. 8), 31. The incorruptible body of Saint
Lucy was translated to the Annunziata in 1280. Four bishops and
the Doge Giovanni Dandolo carried her body (lacking an (entire?)
arm, that stayed at San Giorgio Maggiore) on their shoulders. The
church of Annunziata was rededicated to Saint Lucy in 1343. During
Napoleonic suppressions her church was closed and her body was
finally transferred to San Geremia in 1860. Her cult flourished in
the nineteenth and twentieth century and several translations within
the church occurred and new altars were erected.
23
Item: in the Church of Saint Lucia is the body of Saint Lucia; OGIER,
SEIGNEUR D’ANGLURE, The Holy Jerusalem Voyage of Ogier
VIII, Seigneur d’Anglure, transl. Roland A. Browne, Gainesville,
1975, 16. His voyage to Holy Land (through Venice was undertaken
in 1395. For a 1480 description of the state of preservation of Lucy’s
body, see PIERRE BARBATRE (n. 6), 103.
24
Ibid., 103, n. 2.
25
Ibid., 103.
26
DAVID SOX (n. 22), 118.
27
A case in point is the body of Saint Clare in Assisi. A recent examination of her body, protected in her glass case and behind an iron
grate, speaks of an interesting, probably medieval Italian practice.
Until recent examination, Saint Clare was thought to be a mummy.
When the whole setting was dismantled, a composition consisting of
»a silver mask and a silver mannequin of the saint« containing her
bones held with silver wire, cloth, and pitch was discovered. HEATHER PRINGLE, The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession, and
the Everlasting Dead, New York, 2001, 266. The current silver mask
was made by Minotto Marcello in 1956. PAOLA BIN, la Chiesa dei
SS. Geremia e Lucia, Venezia, 2002, 67.
28
Attributed to Venetian painter of the second half of the Trecento, MICHELANGELO MURARO (n. 18), 154. The author was identified
as Donato by R. PALLUCCHINI (n. 19), 196. Beata Giuliana Collalto
was first buried in the cemetery of the monastery she founded (that of
Santi Biagio e Cataldo), but because of many miracles that occurred
her body was transferred to the church (destroyed in 1810) some thirty
years after her death. ANTONIO NIERO (n. 1), 204.
29
GIOVANNI MUSOLINO (n. 22), 230.
Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 30/2006. (81–92) 30
Venezia e Bisanzio, eds. Italo Furlan, Giovanni Mariacher et al.,
Milano, 1974, cat. no. 74.
31
Ibid.
32
Describing San Sebastiano relic holdings ca. 1643, Paolino Fiamma
specifies the whereabouts of Leone Bembo: »Sopra l’altare della
beatissima vergine …in una casa marmorea con antico coperto
della cassa vechia vi riposo il corpo di San Leon Bembo.« Fiamma,
however, also states that the »paliotto« (i.e. the altar antependium)
made in 1321 can still be seen in San Sebastiano, which makes it
uncertain whether Veneziano’s piece comes from the front or the
lid of the tomb. PAOLINO FIAMMA, La vera origine delle chiese
de gloriosi martiri San Lorenzo, et San Sebastiano nelle isole dette
Gemine, & gemelle, & Zimole; con il inventario delli corpi santi, &
reliquie de Apostoli & martiri, che in S. Lorenzo riposano, 1645, 18,
36. For the style analysis and attribution to the precursor of Paolo
Veneziano, see VINKO ZLAMALIK (n. 19), 12–19. Pallucchini
argued for attribution to Paolo Veneziano; R. PALLUCCHINI,
Venezia e Bisanzio, Milano, 1974, cat. no. 86; MICHELANGELO
MURARO (n. 18), 155–156.
33
A painter, Gaetano Grenzler, acquired a number of holy corpses (including Bembo’s from the church of S. Sebastiano and S. Lorenzo in
Venice) and moved them to Vodnjan. This and other displacements of
Venetian sacred bodies, relics and reliquaries were the result of deacquistions and devastations of Venetian church treasuries during and after
the Napoleonic era, which allowed private citizens to acquire corpses
and accompanying art; see RODOLFO GALLO (n. 1), 9–10.
34
The accompanying inscription reads, »Qualiter corpus beati fratris
leoni positum fuit in arca sub porticu presbiterorum … ut apte in ipsa
ecclesia collocaretur et circa anno domini mccvii fuit repertum.«
35
Venezia e Bisanzio (n. 30), cat. no. 86.
36
Barbatre explains that in a monastery located half way between
Venice to Murano (probably on the island of Saint Michael) he saw
the corpse of a man who had died sixty-nine years previous to his
account and which was positioned »above«. The body was intact,
retaining all its members, skin and bones. The body was exposed to
the rain and sun in order to shrink it and preserve it in its entirety.
It became referred to as »a pilgrim«, supposedly because the body
produced three miracles.
37
MICHELANGELO MURARO (n. 18), 35.
38
This concept was found to be paramount in the pictorial Lives of
Saints prior to Trecento. On the dynamic between the medieval vision and the didactic and ethic component see especially CYNTHIA
HAHN (n. 20), 54–55.
39
Ibid., 14.
40
PETRARCH, Petrarch’s Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul. Book
1, Remedies for Prosperity, transl., Conrad H. Rawski, Vol. 1, Bloomington, 1991, 60.
41
THOMAS E. A. DALE, Stolen Property: St. Mark’s First Venetian
Tomb and the Politics of Communal Memory, in: Memory and
Medieval Tomb, 208.
Ana Munk: The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice ...
42
The account was written by a Benedictine monk of San Nicolò del
Lido; BRUNO BERTOLI, Le storie di San Marco nei mosaici e le
ragioni dell’agiografia in: La Basilica di San Marco: Arte e Simbologia, Venezia, 1993, 114–115.
43
SILVIO TRAMONTIN, Il culto di San Marco in: Ommagio a San
Marco: Tesori dall’Europa, Milano, 1994, 19.
44
During the dogeship of Andrea Dandalo, the cult was flourishing and
was enriched by a text dedicated to the apparition of Saint Marc’s
body; MICHELANGELO MURARO (n. 18), 47, 79 n. 129. For a
discussion and bibliography on the development of the apparitio
theme, see OTTO DEMUS, The Church of San Marco in Venice:
History, Architecture, Sculpture, Washington, 1960, 12–14. The
apparitio of Saint Mark is in Demus’ opinion a thirteeth century
Dominican fabrication in the context of the Venetian »state-controlled mythogenesis«. Although Demus does not discuss Veneziano’s
shutters, it is obvious that Andrea Dandolo’s chronicle (which provides a more complete version of apparitio legend) bears a direct
influence on pala feriale.
45
The references to Christ’ resurrection were contemporary in the
panegyric read at the anniversary of the event; BRUNO BERTOLI
(n. 42), 118.
46
Ibid.
47
For Pala d’Oro see GREGOR MARTIN LECHNER, Iconografia di
San Marco, in: Omaggio a San Marco: Tesori dall’Europa, Milano,
1994, 80, 83 n. 126; N. DI CARPEGNA, La »coperta« della Pala
d’oro di Paolo Veneziano, in: Bollettino d’arte (36) 1951, 55–66.
Notes on iconography can be found in MICHELANGELO MURARO (n. 18), 46–51. None of these authors analyzed the iconography.
An insightful iconographical analysis was offered by RONA GOFFEN, Paolo Veneziano e Andrea Dandolo: una nuova lettura della
pala feriale, in: La Pala d’Oro, eds. H.R. Hahnloser e R. Polacco,
Venezia, 1994, 173–194.
48
»ITALIAM LIBIAM VENETOS SICUT LEO MARCE DOCTRINA
TUMULO REQUIE FREMITUQUE TUERIS«, BRUNO BERTOLI
(n. 42), 89.
49
ANDREA DANDOLO (n. 8), 219. Describing the »colocacio corporis sancti Marci Evangeliste«, that is the consecration of the church
in 1094, Dandolo says that the body was secretly deposited with its
location unknown except to him, the procurator of San Marco and
the doge.
50
The crypt of San Marco is a rather barren place and his tomb undistinguished. It was only in 1835 that the patriarch Jacopo Monico
solemnly exhumed the relics from the crypt where, ostensibly, the
relics always were, and deposited them in the altar; SILVIO TRAMONTIN, San Marco, in: Culto dei santi a Venezia, Silvio Tramontin,
ed. Venezia, 1965, 59.
51
FELIX FABRI (n. 6), 103.
52
In case of Margaret of Cortona and other cults, »images were used
extensively as evidence, portraits, and cult substitutes for a visible
body«, CYNTHIA HAHN (n. 20), 327.
91
Ana Munk: The Art of Relic Cults in Trecento Venice ...
Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 30/2006. (81–92)
53
CYNTHIA HAHN, Interpictoriality in the Limoges Chasses of Stephen, Martial, and Valerie, in: Image and Belief, Colum Hourihane
ed., Princeton, New Jersey, 1999, 110–120.
54
The 1125 translation is discussed in PAOLO CHIESA, Santità
d’importazione a Venezia tra reliquie e racconti, in: Oriente Cristiano
e Santità: Figure e storie di santi tra Bisanzio e l’Occidente, ed.
Sebastiano Gentile, Venezia, 1998, 107–115. For a full account of
the transfer of the head from Chios see RODOLFO GALLO (n. 1), 4.
The relics transferred from Chios in 1125, however, were »dormant«
until Andrea Dandolo gave a new, state value to his cult.
55
OTTO DEMUS (n. 44), 17.
56
For Dandolo’s patronage, DEBRA PINCUS, Andrea Dandolo
(1343–1354) and Visible History: The San Marco Projects, in: Art and
Politics in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy: 1250–1500,
ed. Charles M. Rosenberg, Notre Dame, 1990, 191–206; RANEE
KATZENSTEIN (n. 16), 232–252. Katzenstein should be credited here for noting that »relics seem to have particularly inspired
Dandolo’s devotion and for this reason a martyrdom scene (namely
the decapitation of Saint Isidore) is represented on his tomb«. Ibid.,
247–248.
57
TIMOTHY VERDON, Il battistero: arte e teologia, in: La Basilica
di San Marco: Arte e Simbologia, Venezia, ed. Bruno Bertoli, 1993,
76. The block of granite was stolen from the Holy Land during
the same expedition that brought Saint Isidore to Venice; PAOLO
CHIESA (n. 44), 107.
58
Special thanks to The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg
for sending me the photograph of the icon with Four Scenes from
the Life of Beata Giuliana di Collato and giving me permission to
reproduce it in this article.
Saže­tak
Ana Mu­nk
Um­jet­no­st kul­ta re­lik­vi­ja u Ve­ne­ci­ji tre­čen­ta: cor­pi san­cti
kao sli­kov­ni mo­tiv i um­jet­nič­ka in­spi­ra­ci­ja
Ve­ne­ci­ja je ti­je­kom sto­lje­ća sis­te­mat­ski sa­kup­lja­la pa i oti­ma­la
sve­tač­ke mo­ći i iz po­bož­nih, dr­žav­nih i eko­nom­skih raz­lo­ga.
Kao što svje­do­či Chro­ni­ca exten­sa duž­da An­dree Dan­do­la,
od­red­be iz 1422. i 1446., te upu­te ka­pe­ta­ni­ma bro­do­va gdje i
ko­je re­lik­vi­je na­ba­vi­ti, or­kes­tra­ci­ja kul­to­va re­lik­vi­ja, tj. nji­ho­
va na­bav­ka, pre­no­še­nje i ču­va­nje, bi­la je od dr­žav­ne važ­nos­ti.
Od 1380. do 1530. Ve­ne­ci­ja dr­ži mo­no­pol u pri­je­vo­zu ho­do­čas­
ni­ka u Sve­tu Zem­lju, pa oni bo­ra­ve du­že vri­je­me u obi­las­ku i
čaš­će­nju sve­tih ti­je­la po broj­nim ve­ne­ci­jan­skim cr­kva­ma i o
to­me pi­šu u svo­jim dnev­ni­ci­ma.
Nji­ma Ve­ne­ci­ja udo­vo­lja­va i pru­ža mo­guć­no­st da iz­rav­no do­
ži­ve sve­tač­ke mo­ći i ta­ko kas­ni­je pos­vje­do­če o Ve­ne­ci­ji kao
sve­tom mjes­tu ko­je po bro­ju sve­tih ti­je­la nad­ma­šu­je po to­me
ne­koć slav­nu, ali op­ljač­ka­nu car­sku riz­ni­cu u Kon­stan­ti­no­po­
lu. Ta­ko ni­je slu­čaj­no da su pri­zo­ri za­div­lje­nih ho­do­čas­ni­ka
pri sve­tač­kim gro­bo­vi­ma pos­ta­li učes­ta­li sre­di­nom tre­čen­ta,
pa se po­jav­lju­ju i u dje­li­ma Pao­la Ve­ne­zia­na, ko­ji je bio naj­
bli­ži Dan­do­lo­vu shva­ća­nju re­lik­vi­ja kao ple­me­ni­te ma­te­ri­je i
ple­me­ni­tog sad­r­ža­ja za li­kov­no ob­li­ko­va­nje.
Po­lip­tih sve­te Lu­ci­je, Pok­rov gro­ba Bla­že­no­ga Leo­na Bem­ba,
frag­me­nt ol­tar­ne pa­le s pri­ka­zi­ma iz ži­vo­ta bla­že­ne Giu­lia­ne
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di Col­lal­to, te pala fe­ria­le ra­đe­na za glav­ni ol­tar Cr­kve sve­tog
Mar­ka dje­la su Pao­la Ve­ne­zia­na ili um­jet­ni­ka iz nje­go­va kru­
ga. Za­jed­nič­ko im je da se sli­kov­na ha­giog­ra­fi­ja tih bla­že­ni­ka
i sve­ta­ca obo­ga­ću­je suv­re­me­nim pri­zo­ri­ma vjer­ni­ka, čes­to
pri­ka­za­nih uz ot­vo­re­ne gro­bo­ve. Ti­me se sig­na­li­zi­ra stvar­na
pri­sut­no­st po­seb­no čaš­će­nih cje­lo­vi­tih ti­je­la i ob­nav­lja svi­je­st
o pris­tut­nos­ti sve­ca u ko­lek­tiv­nom sje­ća­nju vjer­ni­ka. Nji­ho­ve
emo­tiv­ne reak­ci­je Ve­ne­zia­no rea­lis­tič­no bi­lje­ži na pok­ro­vu
gro­ba bla­že­nog Leo­na Bem­ba. Na­ra­tiv­na kon­cen­tra­ci­ja na
cor­pus san­ctus na­ro­či­to je nag­la­še­na na pali fe­ria­le, dje­lu
Pao­la Ve­ne­zia­na i nje­go­vih si­no­va Lu­ce i Gio­van­ni­ja. Sre­diš­
nja sce­na mu­če­niš­tva sve­tog Mar­ka iz­jed­na­ču­je se s ti­je­lom
Kris­ta, či­me se i Mar­ko­vu ti­je­lu da­je iko­nič­na vri­jed­no­st pred­
me­ta po­seb­ne po­bož­nos­ti. U nas­tav­ku le­gen­de ob­jaš­nja­va se
posmr­tna sna­ga i učin­ko­vi­to­st to­ga ti­je­la. Ti­je­lo je ot­kri­ve­no
sa­mo pri­li­kom pos­ve­će­nja cr­kve, na­kon če­ga se smat­ra­lo da
je iz­gub­lje­no. Na­pos­ljet­ku, sam je grob pred­met obo­ža­va­nja
ho­do­čas­ni­ka, što je pr­vi put pri­ka­za­no.
Ključ­ne ri­je­či: re­lik­vi­je, što­va­nje sve­ta­ca, Pao­lo Ve­ne­zia­no,
ho­do­čas­ni­ci, Pa­la fe­ria­le, grob, 14. sto­lje­će, San Mar­co,
Ve­ne­ci­ja